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NORMAN w. wnEELEn, on Monnrsrowiv, NEW JEnsEY.

:menos/WENT In STEAM Poitrine-Encinas.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 115,670, dated June 6,1871.

To all 'whom it may concer-a:

Be it known'ithat I, NORMAN W. WHEELER, of Morristown, Morris county,and State of l New Jersey, have invented a new and useful ImprovementinSteam Pumping-Engines 5 and I do hereby declare that'the following is afull and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, the lettersof reference marked thereon being similar for the same parts shown'n thedifferent i'igures- Figure 1 being a sectional elevation; Fig. 2, asectional plan; Fig. 3, a sectional elevation to show details; Fig. 4, aside elevation; and Fig. 5, an end elevation.

- This invention is based upon the principles involved in the steampumpingengine of Savery, described in elementary and historical worksupon the steam engine, and also chiefly upon the following well-knownfacts: When water is inclosed or impounded in a vessel made of goodheat-conductin g material, and the vessel is exposed to sufficient heat,the water will be wholly or partially converted into steam and apressure be exhibited within the vessel; and if the vessel be thenexposed to a lower heat the pressure will be reduced within it 5 andwhen steam is introduced into a body of cool water below the surface thesteam will rise up through the water in the form of bubbles and bewholly or partially condensed.

In the drawing, A is a furnace or nre-place;

- B, the furnace-door; C, the smoke-pipe; L, a

boiler, formed of tubes in the example before us; and O, a steam-pipeconnecting the boiler with a steam-chest, g. Within the steam-chest gisa double slide-valve, M, familiar to steamengineers, with 'twoexhaust-cavities, b b, and

lworking upon a proper seat, which has two steam ports or passages, c c,which passages connect with the upper parts'of two working vessels,P1132. The seat has also two exhaust ports or passages@ a, leading to.two exhaustchambers, t t. Upon the side of each working vessel P1 or P2is secured a valve-thrower, consisting of the barrel fi, flexiblediaphragm k closing the end of the barrel li, which ,diaphragm may bereplaced by a piston, and a c division-plate, m, into which are set thetubes h projectinginto the working vessel. The tubes h have closed endsand open into the barrel i. A button, i, is fitted to come in contactwith the outer surface of vthe diaphragm 7s, and attached, by means ofthe yoke;l anda suitable rod, to one end of a lever orrdouble arm, Z,mounted upon a rook-shaft, d, which passes through a stuffing-box intothe steamchest y, and, by the arm c mounteduponit, is

capable of moving the valve M. Two standpipes, fw w, are provided, andeach connected with aworking vessel, l? P, by a channel, c, in thechannel-plate p, which plate supports the whole engine. To thestand-pipes w w are attached the suction clack-valves R1 R2 openingYinto the stand-pipes, and both valves connected with the suction-pipeT. c To the tops of the stand-pipes 'w w are attached two deliveryclack-valves, opening outward into and connected with the delivery-pipeS. The ,exhaust-A chambers t t are connected each withthe standpipe uponits own side by the exhaust-pipes Y Y, and above the openings of theexhaustpip es into the stand-pipes w w is an inverted distributing-cup,s, perforated with small holes. The functions of this engine are thedrawing and forcing of water or other liquids which are capable of beingvaporized into steam, and its preparation and action may be described inthe following words: The barrel i of each valve-thrower is to be filledwithwater through the cock u to such an extent that the barrel i? andthe tubes 71, will be full when the diaphragm Vlo is retracted into thebarrel t', as shown in the drawing, and the cock u closed, thusimpoundin g the water within.- rlfhe standpipes w w, the working vesselsP P, and the spaces connected with them are to belled with water, a partof which will pass through one of the passages c into the steam-chest g,

vand thence through the steam-pipe O into the boiler L and fill it. Anre is then to be lighted in the furnace A, which will heat the water iuthe boiler and finally generate steam.v The valve m is made too short towholly cover both of the ports c c at the same time, so that the steamis at no time confined by a greater force than that of the column ofwater in the standpipes w fw and the delivery-pipe S; but the valve Mshould be so placed as to completely uncover one of the ports c atstarting, when one button, l, will be in contact with its dia- Y phragmla. The steam generated in the boiler sage c into the upper part of oneof the working vessels P, displace water from the steamchest g andworking vessel P, and force out through the delivery-valve It anequivalent volume ofwater. This action will continue until the water inthe working vessel P is depressed so far that the tubes h will besurrounded by steam instead of by water, as before, when the heaty ofthe steam will pass through the metal of the tubes h, heat the impoundedwater within them, and generate steam pressure within the valve thrower,which will take effect upon the diaphragm k, distend it, and, by itsconnection through the buttonl, yoke and rod j, lever Z, rock-shaft d,and arm e, shift the valve M so as to shut off the steam-passage c,which hadbeen open, and direct the steam into the other working vessel Pthrough the other passage c. The steam generated within thevalve-thrower, by reason of the contact of working steam with the tubesh or any part of the impounding-vessel, we may designate as secondarysteam. f

As the top of the working vessel which will be brought intocommunication with the boiler by this action is higher than the previouslevel of the water in the steam-chest g, the first effect will be theflow of water from the working vessel P through the lower part of thepassage c into the steam-chest g to equalize the level; while steam willflow through the `upper part of the passage c in the reverse direction,and the water lost by vaporization in the boiler L will be replaced bywater from the steam-chest g ilowing through the steampipe 0, which mustbe so large that the current of steam will not prevent the flow of thereverse current of water. Thus the boiler L will be kept supplied withwater. During the further depression of the Water in the Working vesselthus brought into work, and until the water shall have reachedthelowestpart of the passage c, the surplus water in the steam-chest gwill flow back into the working vessel P, after which the water will bedepressed and a volume of water be forced out through the appropriatevalve R, as described in connection with the rst working vessel. Whenthe valve M is shifted to direct the steam into the second workin gvessel, the first steam-port c will be covered by the exhaust-cavity b,and the steam in the rst workin g vessel be free to escape through thepassage c, cavity b, chamber t, and pipe Y, into the stand-pipew underthe distributing-cup s, which will break the current of steam into smallbubbles, which, upon rising through the cold water in the upper part Xof the stand-pipe w, will be condensed. This will have the effect ofproducing a more or less perfect vacuum in the stand-pipe w, workin gvessel P, and their connections, whereby water will be drawn in throughthe suction-pipe T and valve R, and the working vessel be lled withwater ready for another stroke. The water which re-enters the workin gvessel will be cooler than the stream which 2 nacre previouslysurrounded the tubes h, and will condense the steam and cool theimpounded water, relieving the pressure, and allowing the diaphragm 7cto retract so as to oier but little if any resistance to the nextrequired shifting of the valve M by the action of the opposite valvethrower, which will operate when the working steam reaches its tubes h,as before described. Thus the engine will continue to operate, eachworking vessel alternating with the other; the boiler supply beingautomatic and reasonably sure,the danger from explosion reduced toaminimum,because the greatest possible pressure will be that due to thehydrostatic column in the delivery and stand pipes; the friction andwear of parts amounting to very little because of the simplicity andsmall amount of motion in their working parts; and the attendancerequired will be but little more than the feeding of the fire.

This engine is in many respects similar to that of Savery, beforementioned. The drawing has been lettered to correspond, so far aspossible, with the cut of the Savery engine published in BournesSteam-Engine, for the purpose of indicating the similarities anddifferences. working vessels P1 P2, the valves R1 R2 R3 R4, and theconnecting-pipes. His steam-pipes O1 O2 correspond to my steam-pipe Oand passages c c, except that I have added exhaust functions to thoseofthe passages c c. The valve M corresponds to mine, except that mine isworked automatically, and his was handwrought. His pipes Q Q correspondto my channels v fv. He instructed his assistants that a loss of heatwould follow the complete expulsion of water from the working vessels,because of the cold water which would then be introduced and come intocontact with the steam upon the surface, and directed them to shift thevalve M before the working vessel under pressure was completely lledwith steam; and I accomplish a like result by attaching thevalve-throwers to the workingvessels some distance above their bottoms.In the engine under'consideration these difficulties are notencountered; the valve thrower has ample power to throw the valve at theproper time the boiler is separate and distinct from the workingvessels, and is never placed in direct connection with the Acondensersto draw off steam which does no work.

It is not claimed that by the use of' this engine a high duty per poundof coal can be realized, as the losses from absorption and radiation ofheat will be considerable, and nol benefit can be derived. from theexpansion of steam in the working vessels; yet the aggregate of theselosses will be scarcely greater than that of the ordinary pistonsteam-pump practice; While for many uses the safety, au-

tomaticity, and intrinsic cheapness of my enf gine will make it of greatuse to the public.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination and arrangement, in reAlation to each other, of the stand-pipe w, dis- We see in both theboiler L, the

ranged as to supply the boiler with Water, substantially as and for thepurposes described.

6. The combination of the automatically-operated valve M with the twoWorking vessels PIPZ and the two condensing stand-pipes w zc,substantially as and for the purposes described. 7. `Actuating a valve,as M, by means of the pressure of secondary steam, generated in themanner and in the apparatus substantially as described.

NORMAN W. WHEELER. Witnesses:

Tiros. S. DAY, JOHN H. ALLEN.

